


Full of Love

by KatLeePT



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-06-14
Updated: 2015-06-14
Packaged: 2018-04-04 10:21:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 913
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4133892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatLeePT/pseuds/KatLeePT
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Will comes to Belle while still she lingers at Rumple's side.  SPOILERS!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Full of Love

She has not left her husband's side in days when the man who he feared would finish taking her love from him enters their bedroom. She looks up at his entrance, and her eyes widen, startled, when she sees him. She has just been telling Ruby yet again that she is not hungry, but her words fail her when she realizes her friend has sent her boyfriend instead.  
  
She swallows hard and blushes deeply. She never would have thought that she would be the type of woman to have both a husband and a boyfriend, and yet she does. And they are both good men, in their own right, which makes their situation even harder. The honest truth she knows but has not shared, however, makes things just a little easier. Still, she doesn't want to hurt Will. He's been so good to her, and whoever loved him before she came into his life hurt him greatly. "Will." It's hard even just to speak his name.  
  
He nods to her. "Belle. Still as beautiful as your namesake." He enjoys the way she blushes, but then jerks his head toward her husband's comatose body. "Still no change?"  
  
"None," she answers, watching as her places a tray of heavily laden with food from Granny's on the little table Ruby set up days ago beside the chair she has not left, except to go to the bathroom, since Rumple was laid alone in their bed. "Will, what are you doing here?" She winces at the harshness of her words and hurries to apologize. "I'm sorry. It's just . . . Inevermeanttohurtyou," she says in a rush.  
  
He flashes her a bright and cheery smile. "I know. No hard feelings, aye, luv?"  
  
She watches him in astonishment, unable to believe he's so easy going with what has happened and, especially, the choices she has made with so little consideration to his feelings. She hasn't even spoken to him since she found her beloved Rumple almost dead at her feet in his shop. He called her once to see why she didn't appear for their date that night, and she never bothered to give him the decency of answering him. She had known he would figure out where she was from the talk that was undoubtedly sweeping the town, and although those same gossipers had hurt her just a short time ago, she hadn't given him the consideration of trying to help protect him from their cruel tongues.  
  
"Will,"she starts, but he shakes his head.  
  
"No, it's all right, really," he tells her, and she hears the truth in his words. He is a liar, and a cheat, and a thief. In some ways, he's not any better than Rumplestiltskin's dark side -- she does have a knack for picking men, doesn't she? --, but she has at least learned to tell when he is being honest with her. Now is one of those times.  
  
He gazes up into her eyes as he slowly straightens from arranging what he's carried to her on the little table. "Look, Belle," he says, keeping her gaze, "neither of us really meant for what happened to happen. We were lonely. We were tired of the rumors. We were tired o' hurtin'. So we gave in. I don't regret what's happened between us. If Anastasia had shown up here, 'specially almost dyin' an' all, I would've been right back to 'er side, too. We don't love each other, you an' I, but what I hope we do have is a friendship."  
  
Belle smiles, unshed tears glittering in her blue eyes. She has never known a man as sweet and giving as Will. She'd like to think that her Rumple was as sweet in his best moments and perhaps he was, but he had never been as giving as her friend. Yes, she accepts, she still thinks of Will as a friend, and she hopes she always will. Even now, when the tongues of the town gossips are aflame with stories of how she's come running back to Rumplestiltskin's side and she's hurt Will so badly, he still wants to be here for her. Her smile brightens as, finally, she accepts that token of friendship.  
  
"Mind if I sit and read for a while?"  
  
"No," she answers quickly. "No, I don't. You might pull a chair in from another room."  
  
He nods and does as she suggests, pulling another chair in quickly and settling down into its sizable cushions. He slips a book she knows well out of an inside pocket on his jacket and begins to read, aloud, to both her and her husband. She smiles through her tears and listens closely, especially to the adoration with which he speaks of the Queen of Hearts, and if she finally slips a few bites of Granny's soup and homemade bread as he reads, they both pretend not to notice. He stands once, to refill her cup with sweet tea, and then promptly resumes their journey together through Wonderland.  
  
Eventually, Belle relaxes in her chair, her stomach and heart full for the first time in days. She's still listening to Will as she watches her husband. She smiles when she sees his fingers flex again and reaches out once more to hold his hand. She's still holding Rumple's hand when she finally slips into slumber. All the while, Will keeps reading, his strong voice soft and reassuring in the stillness of the room and full of love.  
  
The End

 

**Author's Note:**

> All characters belong to their rightful owners, not the author, and are used without permission.


End file.
